Jeff Poor

On an appearance on Sean Hannity’s radio show on Monday, “The Amateur” author Edward Klein revealed the name of a close ally of President Barack Obama that his book alleges offered a $150,000 bribe to Rev. Jeremiah Wright to be quiet until after the 2008 election.

“Well, what happened is that after ABC’s Brian Ross broadcast the video tapes of the Rev. Wright ‘God damning America’ and slamming whites and slamming Jews and America, he was contacted by one of Obama’s closest personal friends — a guy who travels on Obama’s plane, who plays basketball with him, who goes on vacation with him,” Klein said. “His name is Dr. Eric Whitaker. Dr. Whitaker is the vice president of the University of Chicago Medical Center and he’s a member of Obama’s very tight inner circle. And he sent an email to a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ.”

Klein reminded listeners that Whitaker’s hospital is the same one that paid first lady Michelle Obama $316,962 a year to handle community affairs for the University of Chicago Medical Center while her husband served in the U.S. Senate.

In an email, Klein said Whitaker had offered Wright $150,000 “if he would shut-up and not criticize Obama anymore.” When Wright refused Whitaker’s offer, Klein said Obama himself personally met with Wright, which supposedly took place after Obama’s March 18, 2008 “race speech,” confirmed by both Wright’s word and the U.S. Secret Service logs.

Whitaker, who attended Harvard Graduate School in the early 1990s with Obama, was known for having been a proponent of Obama’s health care legislation.

Klein also said Wright told him he “made it comfortable” for Obama to accept Christianity without having to renounce his “Islamic background,” which Klein said he has on tape.